Barking brilliant

Whether you’ve reduced animal products in your life because of their environmental impact or for animal welfare reasons, it can feel contradictory to then feed meat to your dog. This was the dilemma faced by vet Lucy McKinna, who set about creating a plant-based dog food to prove you can feed your pet in line with your ethics and still feel confident they’re getting everything they need to stay fit and healthy. Say ‘hello’ to a new breed of plant-based dog food… Noochy Poochy . Noochy Poochy takes its name from its use of nutritional yeast, known as ‘nooch’, which gives the food an irresistible cheesy flavour. It’s more than just Noochy Poochy’s name and fantastic taste that makes it stand out from the pack however. A dry food, for convenience and cleanliness, Noochy Poochy uses select organic ingredients, and was formulated by Lucy, a vegan vet, and an animal nutritionist, working in collaboration to ensure it provides a nutritionally complete food, containing everything needed for a healthy dog. By combining a number of different plant proteins, the food is able to achieve a 28% protein content, not only the highest of any plant-based dog food on the UK market but also higher than most meat based dog foods. It also has an impressive omega fatty acid 6:3 ratio of 4 to 1, considered optimum for dogs, to help maintain good health and encourage a healthy coat. You don’t have to just take Lucy’s word for how good Noochy Poochy is, as it’s already achieved accreditation from the Vegetarian Society, PETA and The Ethical Company Organisation, amongst others. The brand places ‘transparency’ as one of its core values, not shying away from the fact that, whilst they hope it will appeal to vegan dog owners, the food is not yet able to call itself ‘vegan’. As Lucy explains… “We haven’t yet found a vegan vitamin D 3 that can stand the heat Noochy Poochy gets cooked to but we are entering a trial with a promising D 3 soon and are excited for the results. Every other ingredient in the food is 100% vegan and ethically sourced.”